CHAPTER 4
“Your Highness!” A palace guard burst through the great oak doors, armor clanking as he gasped for breath. “The Princess—she’s collapsed!”
“What?” Sebastian shot from his chair, wine goblet clattering to the floor. His heart hammered as he pushed past the guard and rushed toward the courtyard.
The moonlit scene stopped him cold. Evangeline lay motionless on the cobblestones near the iron gates, her dark cloak spread around her like fallen wings.
In the torchlight, her face looked ghostly pale, lips slightly parted as if she’d been calling out when consciousness fled.
Lady Cordelia knelt beside her, one hand pressed to her chest, the other resting protectively over her stomach. She looked up at Sebastian with glistening eyes.
“Sebastian! She just collapsed without warning!” Cordelia’s voice trembled with apparent distress. “I tried to help, but she won’t respond!”
Ignoring Cordelia’s dramatics, Sebastian dropped to his knees and gathered Evangeline into his arms. She felt impossibly light, her head falling against his shoulder as he lifted her from the cold stones.
“Get the royal carriage now,” he commanded the nearest guard, his voice tight with unexpected urgency.
Cordelia scrambled up, smoothing her skirts. “I’ll come with you,” she declared, her tears already forgotten.
The carriage ride to Master Aldrich’s residence stretched taut with silence, broken only by hoofbeats on cobblestones and Cordelia’s occasional delicate sniffles.
Sebastian cradled Evangeline against his chest, his fingers unconsciously stroking her pale cheek, willing her eyes to open.
At the physician’s manor, servants rushed to help as Sebastian carried Evangeline inside. Master Aldrich emerged from his study, still in nightclothes but immediately alert.
“Bring her to the examination room,” he directed, leading them to a chamber lined with medical instruments and bottles of tinctures. “What happened?”
“She fainted in the palace courtyard,” Sebastian replied tersely, laying Evangeline gently on the examination table. “She was… leaving.”
Master Aldrich’s experienced hands moved efficiently, checking her pulse and breathing. Sebastian stood frozen nearby, fists clenched at his sides.
“She’ll recover,” the physician said softly. “But she needs rest and careful monitoring. What she’s been through—combined with her condition—”
Sebastian frowned. “What condition?”
Master Aldrich hesitated, glancing between Sebastian and Evangeline. “I was just about to tell you—”
“I’m pregnant,” Lady Cordelia announced, her voice cutting through the chamber like a blade.
Everyone turned to stare.
“With a boy,” she added, hand delicately touching her stomach. “Your heir, Your Highness.”
The room fell into charged silence. Master Aldrich’s mouth remained open mid-sentence, whatever truth he’d been about to reveal buried beneath Cordelia’s calculated interruption.
His gaze moved to Evangeline’s still form, then to the crumpled envelope clutched in her hand—the same one she’d dropped in Sebastian’s study.
“Sebastian…” Cordelia’s soft voice broke through his stunned silence.
He turned to find her in the doorway, tears streaming down her cheeks in perfect crystalline tracks.
“I pray I’m not responsible for this,” she whispered, hand moving to her stomach. “Is this… because of me? Because of our child?”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened as his gaze flickered between Cordelia and Evangeline’s motionless form.
“She was leaving the palace,” Cordelia continued, voice trembling with manufactured guilt. “I saw her with her belongings. Is she fleeing because of what we’ve done?”
Sebastian exhaled sharply and moved to take Cordelia in his arms, though his eyes stayed on Evangeline. “This isn’t your fault,” he murmured without conviction. “She demanded the annulment, not me.”
Cordelia’s shoulders shook as she wept more dramatically, pressing her face against his chest. Uncomfortable with the scene unfolding before Master Aldrich, Sebastian guided her to the manor’s drawing room.
“I never meant to cause such chaos,” she sobbed into his doublet. “I only wanted you to be happy, to love freely without that cold, empty marriage.”
Sebastian tightened his embrace, whispering empty reassurances while his mind reeled with everything happening.
Cordelia’s tears gradually subsided, but she stayed pressed against him. Instead of pulling away, she tilted her face up to meet his gaze, lips trembling with lingering emotion.
“I can’t bear seeing you suffer,” she breathed, fingers tracing the embroidery on his doublet.
Without thinking, Sebastian leaned down, capturing her lips in a kiss that deepened as her hands moved to his neck.
The familiar warmth of her touch clouded his judgment, pushing aside the image of Evangeline lying pale and unconscious in the next room.
“Sebastian…” she whispered against his mouth, her distress replaced by something far more calculating. “Take me home. We can continue this somewhere private, away from physicians and servants.”
Sebastian hesitated, his gaze drifting toward the chamber where Evangeline lay unconscious.
“Please,” Cordelia murmured, fresh tears gathering like morning dew. “I need you, Sebastian. After everything tonight, I need to know what we have is real.”
Her pleading expression shattered his last resistance. He nodded, letting her lead him toward the manor’s entrance.
As they stepped into the waiting carriage, Cordelia leaned against him, fingers tracing patterns on his chest while her breath warmed his neck.
A low groan escaped his lips as desire overwhelmed better judgment, erasing all thoughts of duty, consequences, and the woman he’d abandoned to Master Aldrich’s care.
The carriage rolled into the night, leaving Evangeline behind in the physician’s chamber, her secrets still clutched in her unconscious hand.
Florence is a passionate reader who finds joy in long drives on rainy days. She’s also a fan of Italian makeup tutorials, blending beauty and elegance into her everyday life.
Summary & Review: Comrade
